Press Release Great Turning

Los Angeles Leaders to Attend Innovative Retreat on Poverty Issues

Los Angeles, CA, March 26, 2009 – With the current stock market plunges, job losses, collapse of individual assets and faltering of the global economy, many citizens are contracting in fear. These are uncertain times; they are also times of great hope. Exploring crisis as an opportunity and creating new experiences of possibility and leadership will be the focus of an exciting retreat this spring.

The Great Turning, from Poverty to a Life More Abundant will take place from Thursday, April 30 through Sunday, May 3, 2009 at the Pacifica Institute in Santa Barbara, California. It is being organized by Los Angeles- based Foundation for a Healing Among Nations and is sponsored by the Eleos Foundation.

This three-day long experiential retreat will bring together over 60 high-powered Los Angeles leaders, government representatives, non-profit administrators, homeless individuals and others for three days of sharing, dialoguing and discovering creative solutions to the social issues that currently plague the region and the country as a whole. The Great Turning will also serve as a model for further community revitalization, dialoguing and media projects.

“The Great Turning will be a time for experiencing what invites each of us to re-vision and co-create ways to lead us from poverty to life more abundant. During the retreat, we will deepen our individual leadership experiences, while honoring and being mentored by other leaders, including those who have served the low-income communities of Los Angeles,” says Bonnie S. Mansdorf, director of the Foundation for a Healing Among Nations (FAHAN). FAHAN was established in the late 90’s as a vehicle to create worldwide ‘cultures of peace’ and has collaborated with such organizations as the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute and the M.K. Gandhi Institute.

FAHAN invites media representatives to create radio stories via our audio feed, and video feed for tv news stories. For more information about these opportunities to participate and document retreat news or to schedule an interview with Ms. Mansdorf and/or event participants, please contact Bonnie Mansdorf or Lyn-Li Torres Pugh.

For more information contact Bonnie S. Mansdorf or Lyn-Li Torres Pugh / The Foundation for a Healing Among Nations at 310-382-4799 (voice for Bonnie Mansdorf) or email Lyn Li-Torres at lynli@playfulpenwriting.org